Woman, 42, dies in fire at four-storey house - Orsett Terrace property ‘fitted with smoke alarm’
Published: 17 September 2010
by JAMIE WELHAM
WESTMINSTER Council has confirmed the Paddington council house where a 42-year-old woman died in a fire was fitted with a smoke alarm.
It follows a report from a neighbour of the four-storey property in Orsett Terrace that the alarm did not sound when the blaze broke out at 3.30am on Sunday.
London Fire Brigade said it would not “speculate” on the cause while an investigation is ongoing, but a workman at the site said the outside of the property was littered with cigarette butts.
A neighbour, who asked to remain anonymous, said: “I didn’t hear anything. The man in the flat above tried to wake her up and he said he was woken by the smoke. I’m surprised it didn’t go off.”
The council said a fire risk assessment had been carried out by housing officers on the property in April, and that a smoke alarm was fitted in the communal stairway.
A spokeswoman said it would not speculate on whether the alarm was faulty. It has launched a separate investigation.
Firefighters were called to the blaze, along with police and ambulances. By the time they had arrived, eight residents, including a young child, had managed to escape.
Firefighters pulled the woman from the ground-floor flat, and tried to resuscitate her, but she later died of smoke inhalation.
A spokesman for the London Fire Brigade said: “Firefighters were called to a fire in a flat on Orsett Terrace in Paddington during the early hours of Sunday, September 12. Crews wearing breathing apparatus rescued a woman from the ground-floor bedsit but she died at the scene.
“The fire damaged around a quarter of the flat, which was part of a house conversion. Eight further people – seven adults and a child – escaped from the other flats in the building before the brigade arrived.
“Four fire engines and around 20 firefighters from Paddington, North Kensington and Kensington fire stations attended the scene. The brigade was called at 3.30am and the incident was over at 4.20am.”
CityWest Homes, which manages council homes on behalf of Westminster Council, installs smoke alarms in every single tenanted property.
Councillor Philippa Roe, Westminster’s cabinet member for housing, said: “This was a terrible tragedy and our thoughts are with the family at this difficult time. We will assist the fire service and police in any way we can with their enquiries.
“The fire brigade are carrying out an investigation and further details will be confirmed in due course. It is not wise to speculate on the circumstances around the fire or the cause of the fire.”
The police and fire brigade are still investigating the cause of the fire. The woman has not been named because police are yet to inform her next of kin.